Semiconductor substrate having silicon oxide layers formed between polysilicon layers

ABSTRACT

On the back side of a base body, three layers of polysilicon layer are formed. These polysilicon layers contain boron. A boron concentration C B (1), C B (2) and C B (3) of the first, second and third polysilicon layers from the base body side have a relationship of C B (1) ≦C B (2) ≦C B (3). On the other hand, between the polysilicon layers, silicon oxide layers are formed respectively. Upon fabrication of a semiconductor device, at first, a gettering heat treatment is effected for the substrate under a given condition. Thus, contaminating impurity is captured at the grain boundary of polysilicon layers formed on the back side of the base body. Next, the polysilicon formed at the most back side is removed by etching. By this, contaminated impurity is removed from the semiconductor substrate.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a fabrication process of asemiconductor device, such as a large scale integrated circuit (LSI) andso forth, and a semiconductor substrate. More specifically, theinvention relates to a semiconductor substrate having polysilicon layerswhich can prevent an active region of the device from being contaminatedby a contaminating impurity, and a fabrication process of asemiconductor device utilizing the same.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Recently, associating with increasing of integrated density and loweringof power consumption of an integrated circuit, in the field of dynamicrandom access memory (DRAM), for example, a longer data retention timeis required than that in the prior art, has been required. The dataretention time is determined depending upon p-n junction leakagecurrent. The p-n junction leakage current is caused by contamination ofsemiconductor substrate by penetration of heavy metal impurity, such asFe, Ni and Cu or so forth, in a device active region of thesemiconductor substrate.

As means for removing these heavy metal impurity (contaminating element)from the active region of the device, various gettering technologieshave been proposed. Among the gettering technologies, a method forgettering contaminating element to the grain boundary of the polysiliconlayer by forming the polycrystalline silicon layer on the back surfaceof the wafer is effective. This method is generally referred to as PBS(Polysilicon Back Sealing) method, and has been disclosed in U.S. Pat.No. 4,053,335. When gettering of the contaminating element is performedby using the PBS method, the gettering capacity depends upon grain sizeof the polysilicon layer. It has been well known that the smaller grainsize results in higher gettering capacity.

However, for example, during fabrication process of the DRAM, when astep for thermal process at high temperature is included, grain size ofthe polysilicon layer becomes large through heat treatment to lowerperformance in gettering.

Thus, as a solution for the problem set forth above, Japanese UnexaminedPatent Publication (Kokai) No. Heisei 5-182974 discloses a semiconductordevice, in which a first polysilicon layer, a silicon oxide layer and asecond polysilicon layer are stacked on the back surface of the wafer.The prior art disclosed in the above-identified publication will behereinafter referred to as "first prior art".

FIG. 1 is a section showing the semiconductor device in the first priorart. On the back side of a base body 1, a first polysilicon layer 2 isformed in a thickness of approximately 100 nm. The back side of thefirst polysilicon layer 2 is slightly oxidized to form a silicon oxidelayer 3. Then, on the back side of the silicon oxide layer 3, a secondpolysilicon layer 4 is formed in a thickness of 400 to 900 nm.

In the first prior art as set forth above, the silicon oxide layer 3 isinterposed between the first polysilicon layer 2 and the secondpolysilicon layer 4. Therefore, even when the device is subjected to aheat treatment, growth of polysilicon grains of the second polysiliconlayer 4 located at the most back side of the device can be prevented.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Heisei 5-286795 disclosesanother semiconductor device, in which a silicon oxide layer is formedbetween the base body 1 and the first polysilicon layer 2. The prior artdisclosed in the above-identified publication will be hereinafterreferred to as "second prior art".

FIG. 2 is a section of the semiconductor device of the second prior art.On the back surface of the base body 5, a first silicon oxide layer 6 isformed in a thickness of 7 to 20 Å. On the back side of the firstsilicon oxide layer 6, the first polysilicon layer 7 is formed in athickness of approximately 2000 Å. On the back side of the firstpolysilicon layer 7, a second silicon oxide layer 8 is formed in athickness of 7 to 20 Å and the second polysilicon layer 9 are formed inorder.

In such second prior art, since the second silicon oxide layer 8 isformed between the first and second polysilicon layers 7 and 9, similareffect to the first prior art can be obtained. On the other hand, sincethe first silicon oxide layer 6 is formed between the base body 5 andthe first polysilicon layer 7, growth of the grains of the firstpolysilicon layer 7 can also be restricted.

Accordingly, with these method, even in a LSI fabrication process havingstep of providing heat treatment for the device at high temperature, thesemiconductor device which does not lower gettering performance, can beformed.

On the other hand, in the fabrication process of the LSI, such as DRAMor so forth, a plurality of times of high temperature heat treatment isgenerally performed for the device. Gettering for avoiding thecontaminating impurity is consisted of the following three steps asdisclosed in J. S. Kang and D. K. Schroder, "Gettering in Silicon" J.Appl. Phys., Vol. 65, No. 8 (1989), pp. 2974-2985. The three steps areconsisted of a first step, in which the contaminating impurity isreleased from an active region of the device, a second step, in whichthe contaminating impurity is diffused into a gettering layer(polysilicon layers), and a third step, in which the contaminatingimpurity is captured in the gettering layer.

However, after once capturing the contaminating impurity in thegettering layer, if the gettering layer is subject to high temperatureagain by the subsequent heat treatment, the impurity may be releasedfrom the gettering layer again to diffuse into the active region of thedevice. Such re-discharging of the impurity is caused when thermalenergy kT applied to the device by the heat process is larger than acoupling energy E between defects in the gettering layer and thecontaminating impurity.

Accordingly, a plurality of times of high temperature heat treatmentencounters a problem to cause growth of grains of the polysilicon layerformed on the back surface of the base body to lower getteringperformance, and to re-discharging of the contaminating impurity in theonce captured polysilicon layer. In the fabrication process of DRAM andso forth, in which high temperature heat treatment is repeated for aplurality of times, possibility of re-discharging of contaminatingimpurity once captured in the polysilicon layer to the base body(silicon wafer) becomes high.

In general, a temperature, at which the contaminating impurity isreleased from the gettering layer, is lower than a temperature, at whichthe grains of the polysilicon layer is grown. Accordingly, it isimportant to find a method for effectively preventing growth of thegrains of the polysilicon layer. However, it is more important toprevent re-discharging of the contaminating impurity from thepolysilicon layer.

In consideration of such point, in the first and second prior art, sincegrowth of grains of the polysilicon layer during fabrication process isprevented, gettering performance of the contaminating impurity may notbe lowered. However, these prior art may not prevent re-discharging ofthe contaminating impurity. Accordingly, in the prior art, in all of theprocess steps in the LSI fabrication process, it has been difficult toobtain superior gettering effect.

In the PBS method, the contaminating impurity is gettered at the grainboundary of the polysilicon layer formed on the back surface of the basebody. As set forth above, at a high temperature T₀, at which the thermalenergy kT becomes sufficiently larger than the coupling energy E betweenthe defect presenting at the grain boundary of the polysilicon and thecontaminating impurity, the contaminating impurity cannot be captured inthe polysilicon layer.

On the other hand, in general, the temperature, at which thecontaminating impurity is released from the active region of the device,is lowered than the temperature where the contaminating impurity isreleased from the gettering layer. Accordingly, at the foregoingtemperature T₀, the contaminating impurity uniformly present in thegettering layer and non-gettering layer (base body) at a concentrationC₀. Then, when the temperature is lowered, the contaminating impurity iscaptured at the defect of the grain boundary of the polysilicon layer.On the other hand, at a certain temperature T, when the contaminatingimpurity concentration in the gettering layer and the contaminatingimpurity concentration in the non-gettering layer reaches a balancedcondition, the contaminating impurity is distributed in the getteringlayer and the non-gettering layer. Such activity of the contaminatingimpurity has been disclosed in Hayamizu et al. "Evaluation of getteringEfficiency in Silicon wafer" TECHNICAL REPORT OF IEICE, SDM 93-105(1983), pp. 83-89. The concentration of the contaminating impurity inthe non-gettering layer can be derived from the following equation (1).

    C=C.sub.0 /{1+W.sub.2 (K-1)/(W.sub.1 +W.sub.2)}            (1)

Here, W₁ shows the thickness of the non-gettering layer, and W₂ showsthe thickness of the gettering layer. Also, K is a segregationcoefficient of the contaminating impurity between the gettering layerand the non-gettering layer. When the large part of the contaminatingimpurity is captured in the gettering layer, the concentration of thecontaminating impurity in the non-gettering layer becomes lower.Accordingly, smaller value of the contaminating impurity concentration Cderived from the equation (1) represents higher gettering performance.Namely, assuming that the thickness of the base body is constant,greater segregation coefficient K and the thickness of the getteringlayer W₂, the gettering performance becomes higher. In the PBS method,concretely, greater thickness of the polysilicon layer and smaller thegrain size of the polysilicon layer represent higher getteringperformance.

However, in general, the thickness of the polysilicon layer used in thePBS method, is approximately 1 μm. When the thickness of the polysiliconlayer becomes greater, stress of the base body is loaded to causedeformation of the silicon substrate to affect for the LSI fabricationprocess. Even when the thickness of the polysilicon layer is increasedin the extent not causing deformation in the substrate, it is notpossible to enhance gettering performance.

Thus, M. Saito et al., "Gettering of iron using boron doped poly-Si (1),(2), "The Japan Society of Applied Physics and Related Societies (The41^(st) Spring Meeting, 1994)", AP 941113-01, 29p-ZD-16, 17, P268-269discloses that, as means for increasing the value of K, there is amethod to add boron in the polysilicon layer. Accordingly, in order toenhance the gettering performance, it is effective to make the grainsize of the polysilicon layer smaller and to add boron in thepolysilicon layer to make the segregation coefficient K greater.

However, even when the segregation coefficient K is made greater, thecontaminating impurity once captured is inherently released and diffusedat high temperature as set forth above. Thus, under certain coolingcondition, the contaminating impurity can be captured in active regionof the device. By this, p-n junction leakage current may be caused tolower the characteristics of the semiconductor device.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductorsubstrate having polysilicon layers and a fabrication process of asemiconductor device which can prevent re-discharging of contaminatingimpurity captured in a gettering layer even when a plurality of times ofhigh temperature heat treatment is performed in a fabrication process ofan LSI, such as DRAM or so forth, and can improve characteristics, suchas data retention time and so forth, of the semiconductor device.

A semiconductor substrate having polysilicon layers according to oneaspect of the invention has a base body, N layers (N is an integergreater than or equal to two) of polysilicon layers formed on the backside of the base body and silicon oxide layers formed between respectiveof N layers of polysilicon layers. The polysilicon layers contain boron,a boron concentration C_(B)(n) in (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysiliconlayer from the base body side is lower than a boron concentrationC_(B)(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the base body side.

The semiconductor substrate may further includes a silicon oxide layerformed between the base body and a first polysilicon layer. It ispreferred that a boron concentration C_(B)(1) of the first polysiliconlayer from the base body side is less than or equal to 2×10²⁰ /cm³, anda boron concentration C_(B)(N) in the (N)th polysilicon layer is greaterthan or equal to 1×10²¹ /cm³.

A semiconductor substrate having polysilicon layers, according toanother aspect of the invention has a base body, N layers (N is aninteger greater than or equal to two) of polysilicon layers formed onthe back side of the base body and silicon oxide layers formed betweenrespective of N layers of polysilicon layers. A grain size R.sub.(n) of(n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysilicon layer from the base body side isgreater than a grain size R.sub.(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer fromthe base body side.

A silicon oxide layer may be formed between the base body and a firstpolysilicon layer. N layers of polysilicon layers are formed by CVD, thegrain size of each polysilicon layer is varied by varying formationtemperature. For example, the first polysilicon layer from the base bodyside may be formed at a temperature higher than or equal to 670° C., and(N)th polysilicon layer from the base body side may be formed at atemperature lower than or equal to 610° C.

In the present invention, two or more N layers of polysilicon layer isformed at the back side of the semiconductor substrate. At the most backside of the substrate, the polysilicon layer having the highestgettering effect is present. When the polysilicon layers contains boron,the capturing amount of the contaminating impurity by the polysiliconlayer is variable depending upon boron concentration. In the presentinvention, since the boron concentration C_(B)(n) in (n)th (n=1, 2, . .. N-1) polysilicon layer from the base body side is lower than the boronconcentration C_(B)(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the base bodyside. Therefore, when the substrate is subject heat treatment duringfabrication process of the semiconductor device, polysilicon layer atthe most back side may capture greatest amount of contaminatingimpurity.

On the other hand, the capturing amount of the contaminating impurity isalso variable depending upon the grain size of the polysilicon layer.Therefore, similar effect can attained by providing a grain sizeR.sub.(n) of (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysilicon layer from the basebody side greater than a grain size R.sub.(n+1) of (n+1)th polysiliconlayer from the base body side.

Furthermore, in the present invention, the silicon oxide layer is formedbetween the (n)th polysilicon layer and (n+1)th polysilicon layer toeffectively restrict growth of the grains size. Accordingly, even whenheat treatment is effected for the substrate for a plurality of times,lowering of the gettering effect can be successfully prevented.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a fabrication processfor a semiconductor device utilizing a semiconductor substrate withpolysilicon layers has a first step of effecting heat treatment for thesemiconductor substrate for capturing contaminating impurity within thepolysilicon layers. The semiconductor substrate includes a base body, Nlayers (N is an integer greater than or equal to two) of polysiliconlayers formed on the back side of the base body and silicon oxide layersformed between respective of N layers of polysilicon layers. Thepolysilicon layers contain boron, a boron concentration C_(B)(n) in(n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysilicon layer from the base body side islower than or equal to a boron concentration C_(B)(n+1) of (n+1)thpolysilicon layer from the base body side.

A second step is removing a polysilicon layer located at the most backside of the semiconductor substrate.

According to a still further aspect of the invention, a fabricationprocess for a semiconductor device utilizing a semiconductor substratewith polysilicon layers has a first step of effecting heat treatment forthe semiconductor substrate. The semiconductor substrate includes a basebody, N layers (N is an integer greater than or equal to two) ofpolysilicon layers formed on the back side of the base body and siliconoxide layers formed between respective of N layers of polysiliconlayers. A grain size R.sub.(n) of (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysiliconlayer from the base body side is greater than or equal to a grain sizeR.sub.(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the base body side.

A second step is removing a polysilicon layer located at the most backside of the semiconductor substrate.

After the second step, a third step for performing heat treatment innormal semiconductor device fabrication process for the semiconductorsubstrate. The third step may be a heat treatment for performing heattreatment for the substrate at a temperature of higher than or equal to1100° C. for hours longer than or equal to two.

In the present invention, two or more N layers of polysilicon layers areformed on the back side of the semiconductor substrate. After heattreatment of the substrate during fabrication process of thesemiconductor device, the most back side polysilicon layer is removed.Accordingly, even when the fabrication process includes the heattreatment process which otherwise may cause re-discharging of thecontaminating impurity once captured in the polysilicon, since thepolysilicon capturing the contaminating impurity is removed,re-discharging of the contaminating impurity can be successfullyprevented.

When the polysilicon layers formed on the back side of the substratecontains boron, gettering effect for the contaminating impurity isvaried by the boron concentration. In the present invention, the boronconcentration C_(B)(n) in (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysilicon layerfrom the base body side is lower than or equal to the boronconcentration C_(B)(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the base bodyside.

On the other hand, the gettering effect is also variable depending uponthe grain size of the polysilicon layers. In the present invention, thegrain size R.sub.(n) of (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysilicon layer fromthe base body side is greater than or equal to the grain sizeR.sub.(n+1) of (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the base body.

Even when the C_(B)(n) and C_(B)(n+1) are equal to each other orR.sub.(n) and R.sub.(n+1) are equal to each other, contaminatingimpurity removal effect can be attained by removing the most back sidepolysilicon layer. When the C_(B)(n) is lower than C_(B)(n+1) orR.sub.(n) is greater than R.sub.(n+1), the amount of the contaminatingimpurity to be captured in the polysilicon layer becomes greater at themost back side. Accordingly, by varying the boron concentration or thegrain size as set forth above, the contaminating impurity removal effectcan be further enhanced.

On the other hand, the semiconductor substrate to be used in the methodaccording to the present invention has the silicon oxide layer betweenthe (n)th polysilicon layer and the (n+1)th polysilicon layer. Thesilicon oxide layer is effective to restrict growth of the grain size ofthe polysilicon layer by heat treatment. Furthermore, the silicon oxideis effective to prevent the (n)th polysilicon layer from being damagedupon removal of the (n+1)th polysilicon layer. Thus, since the getteringeffect of the (n)th polysilicon will never be degraded, thecontaminating impurity may be efficiently captured by the (n)thpolysilicon layer even in the later semiconductor fabrication process.

On the other hand, according to progress of the fabrication process ofthe semiconductor device, the surface of the semiconductor substrate isgradually covered. Namely, amount and chance of penetration of thecontaminating impurity is gradually reduced according to progress of thefabrication process. In the present invention, the contaminatingimpurity penetrated into the substrate is captured and removed. Thus,the contaminating impurity can be efficiently removed from the activeregion of the device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given herebelow and from the accompanying drawings of thepreferred embodiment of the invention, which, however, should not betaken to be limitative to the present invention, but are for explanationand understanding only.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a section showing a semiconductor device of the first priorart;

FIG. 2 is a section showing a semiconductor device of the second priorart;

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing a structure of the preferredembodiment of a semiconductor substrate according to the shownembodiment, together with concentration of contaminating impurity inrespective layer of the semiconductor substrate; and

FIG. 4 is a section showing a structure of the semiconductor devicefabricated by the preferred embodiment of the fabrication processaccording to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The present invention will be discussed hereinafter in detail in termsof the preferred embodiment of the present invention with reference tothe accompanying drawings. In the following description, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be obvious, however tothose skilled in the art that the present invention may be practicedwithout these specific details. In other instance, well-known structuresare not shown in detail in order to avoid unnecessary obscure thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing a structure of the preferredembodiment of a semiconductor substrate according to the presentinvention, and also showing concentration of the contaminating impurityin respective layer of the semiconductor substrate.

As shown in FIG. 3, on the back side of the base body 12, a firstpolysilicon layer 13 is formed. On the back side of the firstpolysilicon layer 13, a first silicon oxide layer 16 is formed. On thebask side of the first silicon oxide layer 16, a second polysiliconlayer 14 is formed. On the back side of the second polysilicon layer 14,a second silicon oxide layer 17 is formed. Furthermore, on the back sideof the second silicon oxide layer 17, a third polysilicon layer 15 isformed.

The first, second and third polysilicon layers 13, 14 and 15 containboron. The boron concentration C_(B)(1) of the first polysilicon layer13 is lower than or equal to the boron concentration C_(B)(2) of thesecond polysilicon layer 14. On the other hand, the boron concentrationC_(B)(2) of the second polysilicon layer 14 is lower than or equal toboron concentration C_(B)(3) of the third polysilicon layer 15.Therefore, the boron concentrations of respective polysilicon layersbecomes C_(B)(1) ≦C_(B)(2) ≦C_(B)(3).

When a semiconductor device is fabricated using the semiconductorsubstrate 11 constructed as set forth above, at first, before hightemperature heat treatment as normal LSI fabrication process, getteringheat treatment is performed under a predetermined condition. Then, thethree polysilicon layers 13, 14 and 15 formed on the back side serve asgettering layer to capture the contaminating impurity at a grainboundaries thereof. Since gettering performance becomes higher at higherboron concentration, the concentration of contaminating impurity inrespective layers is higher from the base body 2 side to the most backside.

Next, the third polysilicon layer 15 formed on the most back side of thesemiconductor substrate 11 is removed by etching. In this embodiment,since the second silicon oxide layer 17 is formed between the second andthird polysilicon layers 14 and 15, etching of the third polysiliconlayer 15 can be stopped at the second silicon oxide layer 17. At thistime, the second silicon oxide layer 17 may be removed before advancingthe process to the next step, or, in the alternative may not be removed.

Next, high temperature heat treatment as the fabrication process of theLSI is performed for the semiconductor substrate 11. At this time, sincethe third polysilicon layer 15 which captured large amount of thecontaminating impurity, has already removed, re-discharging of largeamount of contaminating impurity can be successfully prevented.

Subsequently, when heat treatment has to be effected for thesemiconductor substrate 11 at a temperature which can causere-discharging of the contaminating impurity from the polysiliconlayers, the gettering heat treatment is performed for the semiconductorsubstrate 11 again before the heat treatment process required forfabrication, so that the contaminating impurity may be concentrated inthe second polysilicon layer 14.

Thereafter, the second polysilicon layer 14 is removed by etching. Atthis time, when the second silicon oxide layer 17 is remained, removalof the second polysilicon layer 14 is performed after removal of thesecond silicon oxide layer 17.

Thus, in the shown embodiment, since the polysilicon layer containinglargest amount of the contaminating impurity is removed in advance ofthe process which possibly cause re-discharging of the contaminatingimpurity captured in the polysilicon layer, re-discharging of thecontaminating impurity once captured in the polysilicon layer to theactive region of the device (base body 12). By this, p-n junctionleakage current in the LSI device can be restricted. For example, in thefield of DRAM, much longer data retention time can be obtained than thatin the past.

It should be noted that, in the shown embodiment, separately from theoriginal LSI fabrication process, gettering heat treatment is performedfor concentrating the contaminating impurity to the polysilicon layer,it is possible to concentrate the contaminating impurity to thepolysilicon layer utilizing other heat treatment in the LSI fabricationprocess for eliminating special gettering heat treatment.

On the other hand, in the shown embodiment, the polysilicon layers 13,14 and 15 containing boron are formed on the back side of the base body12 and the boron concentrations are varied to be C_(B)(1), C_(B)(2) andC_(B)(3). However, instead of varying the boron concentration, it ispossible to vary grain sizes of the polysilicon layers. In this case,the grain size R.sub.(1) of the first polysilicon layer 13 is equal toor greater than the grain size R.sub.(2) of the second polysilicon layer14, and the grain size R.sub.(2) of the second polysilicon layer 14 isequal to or greater than the grain size R.sub.(3) of the thirdpolysilicon layer 15. Namely, the grain sizes of respective polysiliconlayers has to establish a relationship of R.sub.(1) ≧R.sub.(2)≧R.sub.(3).

Hereinafter, the examples of fabrication process of semiconductor deviceaccording to the present invention will be concretely discussed withcomparison with a comparative example.

Test 1

At first, a base body of boron doped p-type silicon and having adiameter of 150 mm was prepared. Then, a semiconductor substrate wasfabricated by forming polysilicon layers on the back side of the basebody under various conditions shown in the following table 1. As acomparative example, a base body having 1500 nm thick single non-dopedpolysilicon layer on the back side was used. On the other hand, asexamples, the semiconductor substrate having the structure shown in FIG.3 was used. The layer thickness of the first and second silicon oxidelayers between respective polysilicon layers are 3 nm.

On the other hand, temperature shown in the following table 1 representsCVD growth temperature of the polysilicon layer. Lower CVD growthtemperature results in smaller grain size of the polysilicon layer.Accordingly, the semiconductor substrate of example No. A has allnon-doped first, second and third polysilicon layers which have equalgrain sizes of respective layers. Example No. B has polysilicon layersrespectively grown at different CVD growth temperatures, in which thefirst polysilicon layer has the greatest grain size of the thirdpolysilicon layer has the smallest grain size. Example No. C haspolysilicon layers having different boron concentration, in which thefirst polysilicon layer has the lowest boron concentration and the thirdpolysilicon layer has the highest boron concentration.

Next, the surfaces of the obtained semiconductor substrates areintentionally contaminated by iron. Then, for these, thermal diffusionprocess was performed at 1000° C. for two hours. The thermal diffusionprocess was effected for uniformly distributing the iron in thethickness direction of the base body. Contamination amount of the ironfor the surface of the semiconductor substrate was 10¹³ /cm².

Next, for the semiconductor substrate, gettering heat treatment waseffected at 700° C. for four hours. Thereafter, the third polysiliconlayer formed on the most back side of the semiconductor substrates ofexamples Nos. A to C were removed by etching. Also, the second siliconoxide layers between the second and third polysilicon layers were alsoremoved by etching. Then, supposing high temperature heat treatmentwhich causes re-discharging of contaminating impurity from the getteringlayer (polysilicon layer), heat treatment was effected for allsemiconductor substrates at 1100° C. for two hours.

Subsequently, again, gettering heat treatment was effected for allsemiconductor substrate at 800° C. for two hours. Then, the most backside polysilicon layers (second polysilicon layer) and the first siliconoxide layer of the semiconductor substrates of examples Nos. A to C wereremoved by etching. Thereafter, for all of the semiconductor substrates,heat treatments were effected at 1100° C. for two hours and at 800° C.for two hours.

Thereafter, by SPV (the Surface PhotoVoltage) method disclosed in G.Zoth and W. Bergholz "A fast, preparation-free method to detect iron insilicon", J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 67, No. 11 (1990), P 6764, for example,iron concentration on the surface of respective semiconductor substratewas measured. Greater gettering effect results in smaller ironconcentration. The results of measurement is also shown in the followingtable 1.

                                      TABLE 1                                     __________________________________________________________________________           Exam. No. A                                                                         Exam. No. B                                                                         Exam. No. C                                                                             Comp. No. G                                      __________________________________________________________________________    1.sup.st Polysilicon                                                                 650° C.                                                                      670° C.                                                                      610° C.                                                                          650° C.                                     Layer (non-doped) (non-doped) (Boron Concentration (non-doped)                 500 nm 500 nm 2 × 10.sup.20 /cm.sup.3) 1500 nm                            500 nm                                                                     2.sup.nd Polysilicon 650° C. 640° C. 610° C. Not                                    formed                                             Layer (non-doped) (non-doped) (Boron Concentration                             500 nm 500 nm 5 × 10.sup.20 /cm.sup.3)                                    500 nm                                                                     3.sup.rd Polysilicon 650° C. 610° C. 610° C. Not                                    formed                                             Layer (non-doped) (non-doped) (Boron Concentration                             500 nm 500 nm 1 × 10.sup.21 /cm.sup.3)                                    500 nm                                                                     Residual Iron 5.2 × 10.sup.10 /cc 1.2 × 10.sup.10 /cc 8.8                                    × 10.sup.9 /cc 2.6 × 10.sup.12                                    /cc                                                Concentration                                                                 on Base body                                                                  Surface                                                                     __________________________________________________________________________

As shown in the foregoing table 1, the examples Nos. A to C has beeneffectively reduced greater amount of iron from the active region (basebody). This is because that the second and third polysilicon layers areremoved before high temperature heat treatment, in which the ironcaptured in the polysilicon layer may released. By this, the ironcaptured in the polysilicon layer can be removed together with thesecond and third polysilicon layers to successfully prevent released ofthe iron.

Also, in comparison with the example No. A, in which the threepolysilicon layers being identical to each other are stacked, theexample No. B, in which the grain sizes of respective of the polysiliconlayers are varied so that the grain size was reduced from the base bodyside to the most back side, and the example No. C, in which boronconcentration was increased from the base body side to the most backside exhibit greater effect of gettering.

Test 2

In the test 1, results of experiments supposing actual LSI fabricationprocess. In the test 2, in order to evaluate electrical characteristicsof the semiconductor device, n-p junctions are formed in varioussemiconductor devices and junctions leakage current were measured.

At first, by forming polysilicon layers on the back side of the basebody of p-type silicon, semiconductor substrates are formed undervarious conditions shown in the following table 2. As a comparativeexample, a base body having 1500 nm thick single non-doped polysiliconlayer on the back side was used. As examples, the semiconductorsubstrates formed the first silicon oxide layer, the first polysiliconlayer, the second silicon oxide layer, second polysilicon layer andthird silicon oxide layer on the back side of the base body in order,are used. The first, second and third silicon oxide layer between thepolysilicon layers were all provided layer thickness of 3 nm.

Similarly to the test 1, the temperature in the following table 2represent CVD growth temperature of the polysilicon layer. Lower growthtemperature results in smaller grain size of the polysilicon layer.Accordingly, an example No. D has non-doped first and second polysiliconlayers which have the same grain size of the polysilicon layers to eachother. On the other hand, a example No. E is formed with differentiatingthe CVD growth temperature so that the second polysilicon layer hassmaller grain size in comparison with that of the first polysiliconlayer. An example No. F is varied boron concentration so that the boronconcentration of the second polysilicon layer have higher than that ofthe first polysilicon layer.

Next, in the obtained semiconductor, n-p junction is formed. FIG. 4 is asection showing the structure of the semiconductor device produced bythe shown example. At first, at the surface of the p-type siliconsubstrate (semiconductor substrate) 21 having various polysilicon layer(not shown) on its back side, a p-type well region 22 is formed. Next,for the examples Nos. D to F, the third silicon oxide layer and thesecond polysilicon layer are removed, sequentially. For all of thesubstrate, on the surface of the p-type well region 22, an isolationlayer 24 is selectively formed by LOCOS (Local Oxidation of Silicon).Concerning this LOCOS method has been disclosed in J. A. Appels et al."LOCAL OXIDATION OF SILICON AND ITS APPLICATION IN SEMIDONDUCTOR-DEVICETECHNOLOGY", Philips Res. Repts., 25, pp. 118 to 132 (1970).

Subsequently, a n-type diffusion layer 23 is formed on the surface ofthe p-type well region 22 where the isolation layer 24 is not formed, toform the semiconductor device.

Then, n-p junction leakage current was measured. The semiconductordevice had been prepared for respective ten samples of the examples andthe comparative example. The leakage current was measured at a point 25on the substrate surface with the same pattern (area and dopantconfiguration). Average values of the measured leakage current is alsoshown in the following table 2.

                                      TABLE 2                                     __________________________________________________________________________           Exam. No. D                                                                         Exam. No. E                                                                         Exam. No. F                                                                             Comp. No. H                                      __________________________________________________________________________    1.sup.st Polysilicon                                                                 650° C.                                                                      650° C.                                                                      610° C.                                                                          650° C.                                     layer (non-doped) (non-doped) (Boron (non-doped)                               750 nm 750 nm concentration 1500 nm                                             5 × 10.sup.20 /cm.sup.3)                                                750 nm                                                                     2.sup.nd Polysilicon 650° C. 610° C. 610° C. Not                                    formed                                             layer (non-doped) (non-doped) (Boron                                           750 nm 750 nm concentration                                                     2 × 10.sup.21 /cm.sup.3)                                                750 nm                                                                     junction 7.6 × 10.sup.-15 A 5.6 × 10.sup.-15 4.2 ×                                     10.sup.-15 A 8.2 × 10.sup.-14 A                                          Leakage                                           Current 5V,                                                                   at Room                                                                       Temperature                                                                 __________________________________________________________________________

As shown in the foregoing table 2, the examples D to F have smallerleakage current in comparison with the comparative example No. H. Thisis because the contaminating impurity is efficiently removed from theactive region of the device, which can be a cause of junction leakagecurrent.

In comparison with the example No. D, in which the same two polysiliconlayers are stacked, the example No. E, in which the grain size of eachpolysilicon is differentiated to be reduced from the base body side tothe most back side, and the example No. F varying boron concentration toincrease from the base body side to the most back side have smallerjunction leakage current to exhibit greater gettering effect.

In the foregoing test 2, the formation temperature of the isolationlayer 24 by the LOCOS method, is lower than the temperature (1100° C.)of the thermal treatment process in the test 1. Even in such case, theeffectiveness of the present invention can be confirmed. Accordingly, incase of the thermal treatment process used in the foregoing example No.1 is present, further higher effect can be obtained.

Also, the currently used LSIs frequently have twin well structure ortriple well structure. Therefore, a plurality of times of hightemperature heat treatment is required for forming these structures. Forsuch structure, before heat treatment for forming the well region, it ispreferred to remove polysilicon layer at the most back side of thesubstrata.

Although the invention has been illustrated and described with respectto exemplary embodiment thereof, it should be understood by thoseskilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes,omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto, withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore,the present invention should not be understood as limited to thespecific embodiment set out above but to include all possibleembodiments which can be embodies within a scope encompassed andequivalents thereof with respect to the feature set out in the appendedclaims. For instance, while discussion has been given for the exampleshaving two or three polysilicon layers for the semiconductor substrate,it is possible to use the semiconductor substrates of PBS structure withany number n layers of polysilicon layers as the gettering layer.

What is claimed is:
 1. A semiconductor substrate having polysiliconlayers comprising:a base body; N layers (n is an integer greater than orequal to two) of polysilcon layers formed on the back side of said basebody, each of said N polysilicon layers containing boron, a boronconcentration C_(B)(n) in the (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysiliconlayer from the back side of said base body being lower than a boronconcentration C_(B)(n+1) of the (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the backside of said base body; and silicon oxide layers formed betweenrespective of N layers of polysilicon layers.
 2. A semiconductorsubstrate as set forth in claim 1, and further comprising a siliconoxide layer formed between the back side of said base body and thepolysilicon layer formed closest to said base body.
 3. A semiconductorsubstrate as claimed in claim 1, wherein a boron concentration C_(B)(1)of the polysilicon layer formed closest to the back side of said bodybase is less than or equal to 2×10²⁰ /cm³, and a boron concentrationC_(B)(N) in the (N)th polysilicon layer is greater than or equal to1×10²¹.
 4. A semiconductor substrate having polysilicon layerscomprising:a base body; N layers (N is an integer greater than or equalto two) of polysilicon layers formed on the back side of said base body,a grain size R.sub.(n) of the (n)th (n=1, 2, . . . N-1) polysiliconlayer from the back side of said base body being greater than a grainsize R.sub.(n+1) of the (n+1)th polysilicon layer from the back side ofsaid base body; and silicon oxide layers formed between respective ofsaid N layers of polysilicon layers.
 5. A semiconductor substrate as setforth in claim 4, and further comprising a silicon oxide layer formedbetween the back side of said base body and the polysilicon layer formedclosest to said base body.
 6. A semiconductor substrate as set forth inclaim 4, wherein said N layer of polysilicon layers are formed by CVD,the grain size of each polysilicon layer is varied by varying formationtemperature.
 7. A semiconductor substrate as claimed in claim 6, whereinthe polysilicon layer formed closest to the back side of said base bodyis formed at a temperature higher than or equal to 670° C., and the(N)th polysilicon layer from the back side of said base body is formedat a temperature lower than or equal to 610° C.